Neon Twilight (Princess Pittoey and I)

"..Didn't I steal a Nitama Optima on our last run? I think I did. Fancy assault rifle, supposed to have a smartgun system. Whatever the fuck that is. I hope it shoots better than my old modded Colt." She muttered as she started rummaging around her things. He could always tell that something was wrong, she didn't want to talk about it. Especially when it was about him. How could she talk about it with him when he was the problem? Maybe he'd just drop it if she ignored the question. "Where the hell did I put that thing?"
 
"Playing dumb, huh?" Jin sighed heavily, scratching his grey hair. "You put it on the rack under the computer table, Addy," Great, just what he needed. She was being dodgy over a stupid question, so he must have hit a nerve. "You gonna keep acting like a five year old, or are you going to tell me what's going on?"
 
"Nothing," Adrian said as she pulled herself out of the closet. "You just told me you might have a lead on my family, I'm just ready to go and get this run over with." It was a half truth, she just wanted him off her back for now. She moved over to the computer and pulled out the Nitama and tossed it in her bag. That should have been enough, but she was debating on bringing more guns. Could never have enough guns...
 
Jin pulled his katana out with the sheath with a weary sigh and placed it on her head in a disciplinary thwack, it was much softer than most of the ones he usually did.

"You're a piss poor liar, girl," Jin said dryly. "And I know when you're lying, you get all antsy and start ignoring my questions, don't you worry me, Addy, what's going on in that head of yours?"
 
"Ugh, dick!" She hissed in response as she rubbed her head. She hated how well he could read her, especially when she just wanted to be left alone. "You're what's wrong, okay? Stop treating me like a baby, I'm a grown woman now! Why can't you see me that way?" She demanded as she threw her arms up in frustration. Ugh, she had already said too much! She just moved back to her bag without waiting for his answer and began to organize it. Fuck, she sounded like some whiny teenaged bitch now. It was counter productive.
 
Jin was faintly surprised at that outburst, settling his sheathed weapon back on his hip as he watched her with a long, weary sigh. So, that was it, huh? Maybe he was just reading too deep into it, but he doubted it. Adrian wasn't exactly an emotionally complex woman that could hide her feelings once Jin knew what was going on. He felt kind of ignorant, honestly...he prided himself on keeping a close eye on the people (or person) around him that he missed such a giant problem.

Either way, this couldn't sit before they were going to do a job. So Jin moved forward, and slid his muscular arms around her waist to pull her against him, chin resting against her shoulder. Truthfully, he was terrible at affection, at least...he thought he was. He thought he had done everything wrong in raising a kid, he thought he was too strict, too mean...too vicious when the world already taught her that, but seeing her grow up gave him the greatest sense of pride he had ever felt in his life. But, really...did that extend to something like this? He didn't know, but he wouldn't lie to her, he never could.

"Addy," Jin murmured, his voice low and rough. "I'm sorry," he said honestly. "I should have noticed, let me think on it, okay? You're right, you're not a little girl now."

That was the best he could give her, but he needed her mind to be clear and she needed to fucking relax.
 
Adrian flinched when he pulled her into his embrace, and her cheeks started burning. He smelled...really good, but more than that, she felt so safe when he held her like this. She wasn't sure what to say to his apology, she honestly wasn't sure that she wanted him to let her go. Of course, she would never tell him that, but still. "Yeah, whatever..." She muttered softly, shaking her head. "It's fine, I don't care most of the time. It just bothers me every so often, because I only care about what you think, you know? Plenty of hoodrats see me the way I want to be seen, but they've been seeing me that way since I was orphaned..."
 
"So take a deep breath, like I taught you," Jin murmured. "Close your eyes, find your center, distance yourself from your feelings and thoughts until the run is over," he said gently. "And then when we get back, we'll talk about it, I promise."

He could tell just how she was acting, what this was going to end up as. Truthfully, he should have seen it a while ago...but like Addy had said, he had seen her too much as his little girl. He was handsome, it wasn't something he gave an ego over, but he knew. He was on the better side of his forties, his body felt like it was moving better and better every year, his silver hair and golden eyes seemed to attract every young lady and rich hag that wanted a 'rough, experienced runner' to cater to their fantasies. He looked 'Asian enough', but he was just a mutt like most of them.

He wouldn't say it, though. He wouldn't make her feel any more ashamed than he already had, unintentionally.
 
Adrian sighed, but she closed her eyes. She remembered when he first told her to do this, she thought it was bullshit. But it really did help when she found her center, and she felt less angry. He was right, she needed to focus for their mission. She wouldn't be able to find anything out if she took a bullet to the head before she could finish the run.

"Okay, I'm alright." She said after a while, before begrudgingly adding a word she really hated to use. "Sorry..." She was stupid, she shouldn't have let it build up to that point where she lashed out at him. It was immature and quite frankly childish, which didn't help her case in the least.
 
Jin grinned, squeezing her shoulder as he rose up. Ah, Addy was always a paradox in some ways...wanting desperately to be more mature, yet acting immature when she didn't get her way. He supposed that was his fault since he raised her. It was a conflicting thought, to be honest; there was no doubt that Adrian was an attractive woman...but that attractive? Yes, absolutely...but what in the hell did he do to make him so appealing? Granted, not like the men around her were top choices.

He rubbed his face faintly with a light sigh, there he went...doing the same thing he just chided her for. No matter, job first and then feelings.
 
It was a real shame that she had taken a shower, since she would need to bathe again. Even on runs where she didn't kill people, the adrenaline of the mission made her sweat. She wasn't nervous, she just tried hard not to fuck up. She wanted to be perfect, she wanted to be better than Jin ever raised her to be. No matter how good she got, she knew she could always do better.

Once she got dressed into more work appropriate clothing, she laced up her boots and slung her bag over her shoulder before waiting at the door. "Am I driving this time? You said I could," She gently reminded him when he met up with her. She wasn't the best driver, especially when she had been forced to drive in less than casual circumstances, but she'd never get better if she didn't practice.
 
"Yes, yes," Jin replied flatly. "You can drive, but we're doing a job of asset retrieval, not street racing, understand the difference?" he smirked, tugging on her ear. "You drive clean and precise like I taught you, things get hairy, then you can drive like I didn't teach you." She had a good head on her shoulders, but it made sense now why she kept trying so hard. He supposed he'd have to fix that sooner or later, wouldn't he?
 
"Yeah, yeah...I know what the mission is." Adrian muttered as she rubbed her ear. She hated when he did that, or rather she told herself she did. She should have, but something about his dumb gestures were comforting before a run. She remembered when they didn't feel real before, back when she had just started. It took a bullet to the gut for reality to settle in on the danger of her missions. Ever since, she just found comfort in his casualness. She knew everything would be okay when he was around.

Adrian assumed he was ready, so she left the apartment and headed down the stairs. It sucked that they lived in some crappy studio in the middle of the ghetto, but smart people knew who they were and knew better not to mess with them. They could have lived elsewhere, but there was really no reason to relocate. They knew their surroundings well enough, rent was cheap, and they were content.

Four flights of stairs later, they were outside the building and headed to their ride. It was nothing special, but it could drive well. It was inconspicuous. It was just one of the many cars they had ever owned. She was surprised it lasted as long as it had, to be honest. She would try to keep it in tact.
 
"Uh huh," Jin said easily, shifting into the passenger seat without much thought as he activated the GPS and punched in the coordinates. The harbor district made as much sense as anywhere else would if you're hiding someone special, lots of Yakuza went in and out of that place and one more guy in a suit, scared or not probably made no big difference. It was a curious question, though, while the Hebi clan wasn't exactly a small time player, they weren't big either. Who'd they sell out to? Renraku? But you didn't ever really sell out when it came to Yakuza, most of them were half business anyway.

He tapped his finger lazily against the tsuba of his blade as the car started up. He supposed it was about time for a family reunion, wasn't it?
 
The ride to the harbor district was quiet, with the occasional slip up every once in a while in Adrian's driving. Nothing too serious, but it warranted a look or two from Jin. She got them there in one piece though, that's all that mattered. "You seem to be thinking really hard about this run," Adrian noted as she parked across the street from their destination, making sure they weren't seen. He knew her better than she would admit, but she knew him too. "What's up?"
 
"Oh, you know," Jin grinned. "Just trying to decide what witty, Asianesque one-liner I can give you before we go in," he said easily. "Our target should be in the dock eighteen warehouse, if we play our cards right, this should go quietly." he murmured. It wouldn't because Jin was here, but that was fine...it'd be a good chance for Addy to spread her wings a little. "Why don't we split up? No doubt there's already Yakuza everywhere."
 
Adrian raised an eyebrow at his response. Even if she knew that he was lying, it's not like she could make him tell her the truth. All she could do was let it go for now. "Sure, if you think that's best. I won't slow you down if we're separated." She still had a long way to go before she could even hope of keeping up with him, but it never bothered her. It was just more of a reason to look up to him...
 
"Maybe my hip'll act up," Jin said, shifting out of the car smoothly with her as he tapped his sheathed blade on her head. "Keep your head down, and your weapon down," he reminded dryly. "Don't make it complicated unless it has to be, we clear?" She had a good head on her shoulders, but that shoulder had a chip the size of Texas. He supposed he knew the way that'd be fixed, but that was a...complex maze of thoughts.
 
"I know that." Adrian muttered, but she knew why he was telling her that. Her hatred could be pretty irrational at times, but she wouldn't risk fucking up when there might have been a chance that she could find out where her brother and sister was. She didn't wait for him to tell her to go, she just left. She was vaguely familiar with the layout of the docks, and getting to the warehouse would be the easy part. Staying out of sight would be harder.
 
Jin watched her go with a neutral expression before scratching his head to mutter in irritated Japanese. There were rules to this sort of thing, not that Addy knew them...mostly because of his own choice to keep her in the dark. He knew Addy, and he knew the moment that she heard she was given 'special treatment', would be the day she'd never stop complaining. He had gotten soft, or more realistically...he had just got a soft spot for her.

Kaname the Hunter, Kaname the Kinslayer. His katana had tasted the blood of friends and family, for a girl he found on the streets. For a feeling that he never had before, and he never found anywhere else but with her. It wasn't familiarity, it wasn't love (although, he wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know what that feeling was), it was just something that felt nice. Better than he usually did, but taking a step into the harbor meant a lot of things would change. The rules were simple, Jin wouldn't draw his blade to the Yazuka and they wouldn't pursue him...but this would change everything he had set up for her to grow up as safe as she could.

Not that it mattered anymore, now that Addy was bound and determined to find her siblings. He let out another long sigh as he headed the opposite path of her. Well, being a distraction was good enough as long as they got the job done.
--

It didn't take long for Adrian's path to be a little less busy, the straightforward path was littered with Yakuza cars and men. The busy warehouse work continued almost unabated around them, the Yakuza were just the armed window dressing to an otherwise normal night for most of the workers. However, most of that changed when one of the Yakuza started sputtering Japanese to the others, even if you weren't fluent in Japanese, it was clear one word had them sweating buckets: Kaname. So much so that almost all of them were heading over to the increasing sounds of gunfire as the workers were already shoving themselves into the warehouses for cover. Security Drones were already buzzing overhead, flicking on lights and guns clicking to life.

Just a normal San Francisco night, really.
 
Adrian wasn't sure who Kaname was, but it couldn't have been a coincidence that they had just arrived her and now there was panic among the yaks. Had he created some kind of diversion so she could infiltrate the warehouse? That wasn't fair at all. He had told her this was supposed to be a quiet operation, hadn't he? She knew he hadn't gotten caught that quick.

She made sure to stay hidden, ignoring her increasingly awful anxiety that was starting to creep on her. She couldn't worry about him right now, she just had to get to warehouse 18. If she strayed from the plan, they were more likely to fail.

Still, what the hell was he doing?! She'd just have to trust in him for now as she made her way through the other warehouses, being sure to stop whenever she heard anyone coming her way. Eventually she found the right warehouse, and she quietly slipped in through the side entrance.
 
The floodlights scattered across the bloodied cement, bullet casings glinting in the oppressive light. The sound of footsteps seemed continual, and it almost made Jin nostalgic for the younger days...when the world seemed so much simpler and all he had to do was listen to the person above him. It was an easy life, really...at least easy for someone like him. Casually, he swiped the blood off his katana and sheathed it slowly as he glanced around.

Let's see, Warehouse 13 was at the end of this road. The same road that had Yakuza shifting in, there was no formality anymore. They wanted him dead for a number of reasons, but he was a stubborn kind of guy. He didn't like dying very much, the moment the gunfire started he darted off to the side away from the lights. They followed after him into the alleyway, their flashlights flicking on as Jin settled lazily against the wall of one of the buildings, scratching his cheek as gunfire roared in the narrow passageway. Guess he was still making them paranoid after all these years.

You there yet, Addy? Contrary to the fact that the Yakuza were simply opening fire on everything that could be seen as cover. Jin sounded as calm as ever.
--
It was clear the person they had captured wasn't exactly settled in, which was probably a lucky break more than planned timing. The Yakuza here were keeping it old school, the person in question was noticeably female, blood splattered all over her blouse, her mouth swollen from the pincers ripping out a trio of teeth on a bowl and her eyes blindfolded. She was either too numb to be afraid or simply not afraid at all, you had to have some kind of spine for the work you chose to do.

She was alive, but her head was drooped down and she was breathing heavily as blood and spittle stained her expensive clothing. Clearly, they had left in a hurry.
 
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